Family

The hardest part about returning to Brazil has been the miles that separate us from our family. Though each of our children gave us their blessing to return to Brazil, the time apart is hard.

That is why it has been such a blessing to receive Rachel, Mark, Reese and Rylan here in our home for the past 10 days.
Reese and Rylan may be too small to remember this trip but Pam and I will not forget the joy they have brought to us.
Mark has been filming the ministry here so we can give an update to all of our current abide partners and future partners.
He is a real pro!

Rachel is expecting their third child and our 7th grandchild. Are we blessed? We certainly are!

September 06 update

Click on image to enlarge.
Keep abiding!

Reality Check

Life in Brazil is much less cosmetic. Reality here is more "real". Material wealth and cultural customs allow some nations to put a less shocking spin on reality. Even so, the reality remains the same even under the cosmetic cover and cultural attempts to blunt reality.

Yesterday in the morning I passed a smiling brother in Christ working on our church property. Less than 8 hours later I was passing his still body in the church chapel. A heart attack had taken him from this world to our Lord's presence. Only his body remained to create a reality check in all of our lives.

I have done hundreds and hundreds of funerals in the USA. The American culture and wealth have allowed us to make this reality check called death slow down and seem a little less shocking. Here in Brazil bodies are not embalmed and by law the burial must be within 24 hours of the death. So much for trying to lessen the impact of death. In reality we can't.

What is interestiing is that in this 24 hours Brazilians do more about the death than we as Americans often do in four or five days. Brazilians stop everything immediately and face death. Brazilians spend the entire night with the family and with the body of the one who has died. Brazilians weep deeply and immediately. In 24 hours the entire public process is over and the reality of life and death has left its mark for each to deal with privately.

I am not sure which way of facing death is better, but I can certainly say that death here gets one's undivided attention for 24 hours. I think that is a good thing because it allows for no cosmetic answers or money based rationalizing. Death is really here, but so is life in Jesus.

The death of my Chrisitan brother Ricardo at 48 years of age has left me with two images. One is the smile he gave me in the morning. The second is the stillness of his body in the evening. Both are real. The smile I will see again. The still body I will never see again. The next time I see him it will be with a smile and an eternal body. That is real and the past 24 hours made me face it more quickly than I am accustomed to.

Appearances

This morning I had the privilege of addressing a group of people receiving food baskets through the ministry of the church here. I find these kind of moments a mixture of joy and discomfort. I continue to find deep poverty to be one of the most challenging issues this particular American faces while living in a country like Brazil. Speaking to this group of deeply poor people really made me deal with the apparent differences between their life and mine. That is not comfortable but it is good.

I asked the Lord to give me a message for them of faith, hope and love. He did. Here is the essence of what He gave me.
I wish you could have been standing their with me looking into their faces and seeing their reality. You, too, might have felt joy and discomfort.

God led me to tell them....

1. Appearances can fool us. When we look at society it seems that only some (like the poor) need to receive in order to live.
That is how things appear, but the reality is all of us live each day by what we receive. We are all equally dependent before God for all we have. It is an illusion to think there are people alive today who do not need to receive what they do not have in order to live. Faith is about receiving from God. We all live by receiving or we will surely die.

2. Appearances can fool us. When we look at our lives we think only some people can be truly happy and joyful. We think people who live in certain houses and in certain neighborhoods can be happy today. That is how things appear, but the reality is that no one lives anywhere but within their own inner life. I don't live in Brazil. I live within the boundaries of my own soul. This is true of all the people in the world. With Jesus in my soul I can be happy anywhere.

3. Appearances can fool us. When we look at the day that is stretching out before us we may think we have nothing to give anyone. We think that our life has nothing to give unless we appear to have something to give. No, we all have something to give. What we have to give may be as simple as a smile or as profound as forgiveness. We may have no house or no transportation, but there are things God is giving us that we can give. We all must be giving because that is what love does.

At the end of my words, the group of about 75 applauded. I think they were being polite but they gave me something very special. They accepted me and they accepted the words God gave me. They gave me their attention. How small our food baskets seemed to me when compared to what they gave me out of their poverty!

Truly we all live by receiving. Truly we all can rejoice right where we live-in our souls. Truly we can all release something today to someone who really needs it-even in our poverty.

Don't let appearances fool you. People are the same all over the world. Receive--Rejoice---Release!

Finally!

For the first time ever in our journey of abiding, Pam and I were able to teach what the Lord has taught us in the form of a careful and full explanation of what it means to abide on a daily basis. Praise the Lord the 140 women from the First Baptist Church in São Jose dos Campos received the teaching with open hearts. It was wonderful!

The range of Christian experence was from new converts to very, very mature believers and leaders. Even so, the metaphor fit each life just as Jesus said it would. For those who doubt the power of His words, just try using them exclusively for a while in your teaching and preaching and you will see that what He said is the final word in every life.

In one of the pictures I have chosen to show this wonderful moment in our lives you will see two elderly sisters with their hands raised and fingers folded down into the palm of their hand. One of them said to me, "When we stand up as individuals (open hand) we are very different. When we all bow together before God we are all equal" Try it and you will see that even our hands preach spiritual truth.

Finally, I am beginning to see how all things truly work together for good to those who love God and are called accordiing to His purpose.

The Abiding Experience

Pam and I are happy to report the "birth" of the course on Abiding we have worked on for many years!
Today we will head to the mountain city of Campos do Jordão to teach the 7 hour course to 140 women from the First Baptist Church of São Jose.

The course is designed to be used in retreats, small groups and in individual discipleship. The course is based on John 15 and walks a person through the metaphor that best describes how the daily Christian life can and should work.

Pray for us as we teach the course and continue to develop the other tools that will help people enjoy "The Abiding Experience" of the life of Jesus 24 hours a day and seven days a week.

We hope to have the english editions of both the marriage course and the abiding experience course by January. Our goal is to train church leaders to use the courses effectively in the life of the local church.

Surprise--Back on the radio

Once again I have been surprised by God's attention to detail. Why is it I cannot just expect Him to be so perfect at what He does?
I am ashamed to admit my faith is so small yet I am happy to say He continues to work with me. It is amazing.

The latest surprise is the opportunity to speak by radio to over 100,000 listeners in a southern Brazilian city. This also may lead to putting the Abide program on similar stations all over Brazil. God brought our friend Edson Bruno back to Brazil to lead a new radio ministry. Edson has introduced me to the media team in the city of Joinville and they have embraced the abide ministry and its message.

I have just returned from two days with these dear brothers in Christ. We recorded the marriage seminar for broadcast and we prepared 12 new programs for immediate use on the air. Radio programs are a lot of work to prepare but the impact is worth it.

Pray for all of us in this project. God has other surprises in store.

In the first photo I am with leadership team at the new radio station in Joinville.
In the second photo I am with Pastor Antonio Siqueira who is a man that God has touched deeply concerning the need to develop intimacy with God 24 hours a day and seven days a week.
In the third photo I am with Edson Bruno in the new recording studio.

The Real Problem

I recently spent some time with a dear friend who has been deeply offended in two very diferent ways. My friend had been treated terribly by a person in business here in our city. The business person took money and never delivered the services promised. This caused a huge delay in a project and the cancelation of an important trip. Needless to say, my friend wanted nothing more to do with the person who failed to deliver. My friend's conclusion was that this was a person with a severe character flaw. My friend is right.

A little while later the unethical business person entered into a deep business partnership with my offended friend's best friend who is also a relative. The friend and relative did this already knowing the story about the failure to deliver. So, the unethical enemy was now a close associate and friend of my offended friend's friend and relative. Can you follow the pain? If this has ever happened to you, you can follow it and feel it. My friend could not believe that their friend and relative became so close with their enemy. it was as if the first pain was small compared to this second pain.

My friend decided to stay completely away from all involved. My friend asked me how a friend could do such a thing. Since I could follow the pain, I said it was much more common than most people believed. It happens all the time and God permits it and does not explain exactly why. At least He has not yet explained it to me.

I guess we all wish our closest friends would stay away from anyone and everyone who hurts us. We hope that others will feel our pain, make a judgment and stay away. People who have gone through a divorce or have been fired from a job know this feeling. When this has happened to me what I wanted was for my enemy to be isolated from those who were my friends. That is what I wanted until I thought a little more deeply about this everyone staying away thing. On the surface it may be good for me but it may not be good for everyone and God is about everyone not just me.

Jesus was certainly God's friend and we (all of us) were God's enemies. Jesus could have stayed away from us with good reasons. Instead, He came and lived among us as a friend. God wanted Him to. God sent Him. Perhaps therein lies the difference. God and Jesus trusted each other with this being close to an enemy thing. Something in God reaches out in ways that are still very strange to me.

I have had to ask myself, what would it take for me to be O.K. with my friend being the friend of my enemy? I think I would need to know that my friend trusted me enough to believe what I said really happened and and agree that it was wrong. I think I would need to know that my friend would never knowingly add to my pain by agreeing with or enjoying what was done to me while in the company of the one who hurt me. I think I would need to know that my friend was motivated by something more than self interest in the relationship with my enemy. I would hope my friend would understand my pain enough to reassure me that they were being led of God to be a friend to my enemy and they would stay away the moment God said they should.


As I listened to my friend speak of the enormous pain that was washing over their soul, I remembered my own experiences of seeing friends enjoying people who had been and still were enemies to me. I told my friend to take their eyes off the friend and the enemy and put their eyes back on Jesus who had been their friend when they were God's enemy. I told my friend to ask Jesus what they should or should not do toward the friend and relative. I honestly don't know of a set way to handle this situation except to seek Jesus each day and be willing to let Him teach us how this can work for good in all of our lives. I do believe there is a combination of some going toward the enemy and others going away. Jesus knew when to go toward and when to move away. He still does and He still guides His children.

Jesus has already been clear about our enemies--Love them and bless them. I think the reason for this command from Jesus is based on the fact that the only hope for our enemy is to get at the root of what drives them to be an enemy. What drives any of us to sin or be an enemy is the a failure to receive God's love deeply into our lives so we will not need to hurt others to get what we want. As far as I can tell, Jesus gave no specific word to us about what to do with a friend who is a friend to our enemy. He gave no word but He certainly lived the example. He stayed close to them unless they tried to turn Him against His Father. He would have none of that and His friends and His enemies knew it. If I knew my friends were still that loyal to our relationship it would certainly help.

I now know that what my friend and my enemy need from me is to wish them well in real and tangible ways. The only true "wellness" comes from receiving from God and His love. Most of the time that receiving must come from someone close to the one who is not receiving. My enemy needs someone close who loves God deeply. Since most of my closest friends are deeply in love with God, it would make sense that God might ask one of my freinds to stay close to someone like my enemy.
it makes sense if I am thinking "big picture" and not just "my picture."

My enemy will only be my enemy for as long as they fail to receive from God what they need to stop. The day they receive from God in Jesus what they lack which caused their behavior toward me, they will not want to be my enemy any longer and they, too, will hear Jesus say "Love your enemy."

Maybe my friend needs to be close to my enemy so that moment can be made easier if it happens. If it never happens and my enemy ends up forever God's enemy then I am sure I will be glad my friend was close-- Close enough to my enemy to speak of God's love because I was not able to be close enough to say it myself.

There will be a day when there will be no enemies to love and bless. There will be a day when there will be no friends who hurt us by staying close to those who hurt us. For now we will have to allow our friends to make their choices for good or bad reasons.

It is never easy to be a friend in the world. It was never easy for Jesus.

In John 15 Jesus calls us friends and then sends us out into the world to love people who still hate him. This is hard thing to do and we must be careful never to agree with Jesus' enemies about essential things about Jesus. We must, however, be close enough to Jesus' enemies to gently and clearly say "You really don't understand Him and you did mistreat Him and so did I. I admitted I was wrong and you need to do the same."

In the end what I want from my friends is to know that the enemy cannot manipulate them away from the relationship with me. I need to allow my friends to be wrong because I , too, am often wrong in what I do or do not do. I need to know my friend is really a friend and the enemy cannot change that. If the enemy tried to change that fact, I would hope that would be the line my friend would not cross. It was certainly the line Jesus would not cross.

I hope my offended friend can find the strength from Jesus to love the enemy. I hope my friend can find the strength from Jesus to love the friend and relative who may or may not be making a serious mistake in joining in a close relationship with someone who really does hurt people and has a character flaw. We would do well, however, to remember Jesus kept Judas close to the end and even Judas played a part that God controlled for good.

I told my friend I understood this pain. I do. I told my friend that only Jesus could direct through this kind of complexity. I told my friend to abide and ask for wisdom. My friend and I were drawn together by this challenge of faith. This kind of pain leaves one with a kind of weariness and hurt that is hard to describe unless it has been felt. If there is any hope at all for any of us it is that God still loves us when we complicate things and cause pain. There is always hope because no one can manipulate God away from us and the day will soon come when this enemy thing will be over.

August 2006 update

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Miami Connection--Global focus

Once again I am amazed at how God is continuing to connect our lives with people we thought we were "leaving" in the USA.
This past week I was privileged to be a part of Brazil's first GLOBAL FOCUS training with Dr. Larry Reesor and Dr. DIno Pedrone.
Larry is the founder of Global Focus and Dino is the Senior Pastor of the New Testament Baptist Church in Miami, Florida.

Global Focus helps local churches live out the vision of Acts 1:8 where Jesus said his followers would be empowered by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth. It is a wonderful new way of doing missions through the local church. We hope to develop a partnership between Abide Ministries and Global Focus.

New Testament Baptist church is one of our supporting churches. It is also the home of Dade Christian Schools. I graduated from Dade Christian in 1969 and Pam's family was supported by New Testament as far backk as the 1950's.

Being with Larry and Dino was a blessing. Three men from New Testament church also came down to teach and launch the Global Focus ministry.

It was a good week. The connections that God is engineering for us continue to amaze me.

The first picture is of Dr. Dino Pedrone preaching in the evening Global Focus service.
The second picture is of the Global Focus team from the States.
The last picture is of Dino, me and Larry just before an evening service.
(Click on the photos to enlarge them)

A Pleasant Surprise

Oswald Chambers once observed "God orchestrates our circumstances to educate our faith." For that reason I am always alert to the seemingly small details that tell me God is at work all around.

For the past four days Pam and I have been in the mountain city of Campos do Jordão looking for our future home here in Brazil.
From the very beginning of our call to return to Brazil this mountain city has drawn us back again and again. In human terms the city seems to be out of the way and not in the middle of the big things God is doing in Brazil. That is just not true.

We stayed in a wonderful mountain hotel in Campos named "Leão da Montanha" which means "Lion of the Mountain." The hotel was built 25 years ago by a Jewish man who survived the Holocaust. That Jewish man is now 84 years of age and the running of the hotel is now in the hands of his grandsons Fabio and Elan.

The amazing detail is that Fabio and Elan have both accepted Jesus as their Messiah and they want to work to help the Abide Ministries in Campos and among the Jews of Brazil. The chances of this kind of contact is amazing. My faith was educated once again! God is at work in His way in every place.

A year ago we dreamed of having a place in the mountains where we could bring leaders and learners to clarify what it means to abide in Christ 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Now we have people willing and ready to help who own a camp and a hotel. We also have extremely sharp Jewish believers ready to introduce us into the Jewish community.

When we left South Florida with its huge Jewish population, it never dawned on us that we would be sent to a mountain city to continue to work with God's chosen people scattered here in Brazil.

One picture is of Pam and me with our Jewish brothers in Christ Fabio and Elan. The other picture is of Fabio, Elan and another young Jewish believer named Raphael.

Don't miss the surprises in your life. God is educating your faith.

A thought on the demonic

Here in Brazil there is a tremendous emphasis on the unseen, demonic world. Yesterday at the church we attend there was a seven hour couse given on "Spiritual Warfare". The young pastor who taught the course did an excellent job with the Biblical material. I was amazed at his depth of experience and Biblical knowledge.

One thought that struck me as he spoke came from the words of Paul in Ephesians six where he says "We wrestle not against flesh and blood..." What struck me is that we all wrestle with demonic forces. Life is like a wrestling match for all of us but we think it is people who are behind the struggle. No. There are forces opposed to life in God that create the force we feel resisting us. To fight people is to miss the point of the real struggle. There are powerful forces behind the visible against which we "wrestle"

Human beings are not sources of anything. Human beings are receivers. Remember when Paul said "I am what I am by the grace of God"? He said his whole life was the result of receiving from God. If Paul was what he received, so, too, are all humans what they receive.

Demonic forces are substitute sources that attempt to attach themselves to the human spirit. Most may never manifest a deomonic presence as we think of demonic possession. Yet, all of us reflect through the fruit of our lives the source or sources that feed our spirit. There is no such thing as a human spirit that is not receiving from some source of thought or intent.

The word "sorcerer" means one who seeks the source. Make no mistake. A source of some kind is trying to reach your spirit and feed it . Truly, we wrestle not against flesh and bone. Humans are not the source our spirits was wrestle against. There is a spirit world and it will make a connection if it can and its fruit will appear over time.

This is why the blessed Holy Spirit of God is in us. If we rest in the Holy Spirit and resist the Devil and his counterfeit sources
we win. To fight humans is a waste of time. The battle is behind the fruit in human lives.

In the end it is always about the source from which we drink and eat. Thank God Jesus is come into the world as our daily bread and water!

Time Team

Pam and I are busy leading a group of young people from the USA. It has been a long time since I have been surrounded with such energy!

The team is made up of young people and their leaders from Massachussets, Daytona, Florida and Miami, Florida. The International Bible Baptist Church of Miami has developed a wonderful summer missions outreach for teens and young adults called TIME. The team uses drama presentations to preach the message of Jesus. It is very, very effective.

Got to run! Pray we can keep up.

Bud and Pam

Stunned

One of the small, but interesting differences about living in Brazil is the absence of airconditioning and screens on the windows. This combination makes for a much more direct contact with sounds, smells and nature. What is normally kept outside in the USA can often be found inside in Brazil.

This morning at breakfast two "outside" things came inside. One was the smell of a nearby factory. This smell normally does not come inside unless there is a lot of fog and the temperature drops. When fog and temperature are just right it smells like the factory is right next door instead of across the river. The second was a small bird that came into the window by mistake and then could not get out. This small bird is normally one of the first things we see each day when we look out the window of our ninth floor apartment. These small sparrows always remind me of Jesus' words that the Heavenly Father even takes great care of the little birds so He will most certainly will take care of us.

The sparrow came in through the open window and flew right into a large mirror we have on one wall near our dining room table where Pam and I were having breadfast. He hit the mirror really hard and then flew to the ledge near the window where he stopped and made no movement at all. I waited to see if he would try to fly out the window again but he did not move. He was too stunned by what he had done to move.

Slowly I approached him thinking he would panic and try to fly away from me. He did not move at all. I put my hands over him still expecting panic. Instead, he let me hold him in my hands. I lifted him to the open window and he flew back to his normal world.

I could not help but believe God has done the same for me over and over again when I am stunned by life--even when I was the one who flew into a world that was never meant for me. The key when one is stunned is to sit very still and wait for God to come. To fear His hand when we are stunned by our own decisions is to misunderstand who He is our lives. Truly His mercy endures forever.

To struggle against His hands is to only make matters worse. Letting God hold us is the beginning of a return to the life He has made for us.

May-June Update

CLICK ON THIS IMAGE AND IT SHOULD ENLARGE SO YOU CAN READ IT.
THANKS!
BUD

A special moment

This past week Pam and I experienced a very special moment in our lives. I was invited to speak at the church we founded nearly 26 years ago here in Brazil. The special occasion was the tenth anniversary of the current pastor of the church. I was one of his seminary professors many years ago and we have enjoyed a good relationship over the years.

It was a wonderful moment to be standing behind the same pulpit I left back in 1987. To see the church doing so well was a wonderful moment. God is so good!

Six Metaphors for a Happy Marriage

Our marriage course entiltled "Six Metaphors for a Happy Marriage" is being received extremely well. People are the same all over the world. Marriages suffer the same kinds of stress in Brazl as they do in the USA.

This past weekend we offered the seminar for couples in our church and we had 65 couples attend. It was truly a remarkable opportunity.

mobile happiness

Jesus said in John 15:11 "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete."

It is clear from this statement that there is a direct relationship between what we hear from Jesus and the state of our joy.
That makes sense. When we get news that tells us good things are happening we naturally sense some level of happiness or joy. When Jesus spoke of the abiding presence of God in our lives He certainly knew that such news would make our joy complete if we would receive it.

The other day I received some news that brought me joy. Interestingly enough, I did not let the news take up residence (abide) in my heart and produce joy because it sounded too good to be true. Having been "burned" in the past I was not ready to ride a new wave of joy only to be dumped by the crashing wave of disappointment. In this particular case I was right to have waited for further word. The good news soon turned to bad news. I had not wasted my emotions on receiving false information.

An essential part of abiding is to go ahead and receive what Jesus is saying as a completely settled reality. That is how He lived. He had no doubts about His Father's love. He was abiding in that love and it produced a full joy in Him each day. Are we doing the same or are we waiting for further news?

Jesus' plan for His joy was to make His joy "mobile". That is, He wanted His joy to be in us and not dependent on exterior circumstances so we could freely and joyfully move about in this world. This can only happen if we will simply receive His message and let the joy it produces fill us up.
When we do, we are liberated from the need for our happiness to be circumstantial. Instead, our happiness becomes based on facts that cannot and will not change.

This "mobile happiness" is a powerful force in the world. It makes it possible for disciples to move about freely without fear of messing up their source of happiness. Most people need external stability to have happiness. A disicple of Jesus that is bound to a place for happiness is truly a contradiction. We are to be bound to a person for happiness but never to a place. "Follow Me" still means exactly what it says.


Do you remember the words of the TV commercial for a mobile phone company that said over and over "Can you hear me now?"
In the spiritual realm Jesus is saying each moment "Will you hear me now?" When you will not hear Him, watch how quickly your joy diminishes and your happiness starts depending more and more on other visible sources. Listening is receiving. All spiritual reality--abiding---depends on receiving as true what God has said to us through His Son.

Having "mobile" happiness is a true teasure. It makes us willing to risk and follow. I hope your happiness can roam wherever God is leading. There is no place on earth where God lacks the coverage needed to make our joy complete.

An open door

The church where we serve here in Brazil hosts an annual conference for pastors and leaders who want to learn how to develop churches that are guided by God's purposes instead of personalities or programs. It is an awesome conference and time of spiritual growth and formation.

This year it was my privilege to address the 1400 delegates from 26 Brazilian states concerning spiritual formation and discipleship. I spoke on "Discipleship 24X7--entering the second rest." Read Matthew 11:28-29 to see the first and second rest and you will get the idea.

The photos show the moments I had the privilege to speak to the delegates. Our goal of influencing 1000 pastors is helped tremendously by this kind of opportunity. From this group we have gathered about 50 pastors who have requested to become a part of our abide network here in Brazil.

Spiritual hunger

What is it that creates spiritual hunger? I think it is the emptiness that comes from trying to make life work apart from God. There is definitely a deeper spiritual hunger here in Brazil than I was accustomed to seeing on a day to day basis in the USA.
People here live lives that are definitely harder. It is much harder for people here to think life can be made to work apart from God.

There is a part of me that wants Brazilians to have easier lives, but there is a part of me that wants them to stay open to God as they are. Every time I teach here in Brazil I feel I am truly meeting people at a deep level of hunger. Living here day to day I sense that people must chose God or they must chose anger. I am so happy to report that many chose God!

The pictures are of a couples retreat Pam and I did recently. We have developed a marriage seminar called "Six Metaphors of a Happy Marriage." It has blessed many and we could literally travel every week to give the seminar. We are traing Brazilian pastors to give the seminar in our place.

april update

influence

A little over three years ago our sending pastor, Russell Johnson, gave me some materials from a ministry called ABIDING LIFE.
I immediately identified with the content of the material and sent for a set of CDs by Mike Wells. Little did I realize how those CDs would be used by God to open my eyes to the power of God's presence in our lives. Mike's unique ability to communicate the truth of the abiding life of Jesus blessed me in profound and permanent ways.

Later I discovered that Mike's ministry is already deeply rooted here in Brazil. His books and seminar lectures are in Portuguese and have opened many doors for the message of Jesus' satisfying presence in our daily lives.

After several attempts Mike and I have met personally and have ministered together here in our city. The harmony of what God has done in each of our lives is truly a testimony to God's grace and the teaching of the Holy Spirit.

The theme of Mike's ministry is "There is nothing the presence of Jesus cannot cure." Mike works with people across the world who have been ignored or forgotten. That includes the poorest of the poor and burned out Christian leaders.

It was a privilege to have Mike here with us accompanied by Oswaldo Paiao and Dr. Jim Herrin from Lake Conroe, Tx.

The pictures show the seminar we held here in the city.

small world

The world is shrinking! Recently we had firsthand proof that the world is smaller. A visit from Rev. Del Hooge to our city in Brazil gave us unmistakable evidence--the world is really getting smaller. Del is a 40 year missionary to the Phillipine islands. He was in Brazil connecting Brazilian churches to a worldwide literacy and educational movement that is leading thousands to Jesus.

Pam and I have known the Hooge family for many, many years. To think we would meet here is awesome. I like the smaller world!

Moving On

Leading a ministry that is called "Abide" has proven to be a wonderful way to test the depth of my conviction about the place of Abiding in the Christian life. The test is whether or not I will "stay on message" or "move on to something else."

It seems that many people eagerly embrace the message of enjoying a barrier-free relationship with Jesus as the only way to bear fruit and glorify God. They literally become joyful at the news that Jesus is with us 24x7 and is perfectly enough for our lives to be fruitful and glorify God. It is awesome to see the "light go on" in someone's eyes when the message of abidig takes root.

It also seems that many people who get excited at the start of the abiding journey seem to grow weary when I don't want to 'move on' to something else. It is almost as if they think I don't know anything else.

I am beginning to realize that abiding is in a different class from all other types of Christian learning. Abiding is foundational.
Here is how I am expressing abiding here in Brazil to those who seem to want me to "move on". I am telling to think of abiding in this way....
Abiding is to discipleship what reading is to learning. You never "move on" from reading.

Abiding is to discipleship what breathing is to singing. You never "move on" from breathing.

Abiding is to discipleship what drinking and eating are to strength. You never "move on" from eating and drinking.

For me, the greatest fault in today's churches is we have "moved on" from abiding and we are becoming spiritually illiterate,
short of breath and without spiritual strength. We dare not move on. That is why our ministry is called Abide.

The pictures in this blog are of our Abide team members here in Brazil helping Christians not "move on" from Abiding. The word "PERMANECER" seen in the first photo is the word for Abide in Portuguese. The young lady in the picture runs our Abide office in the city of Sao Jose. Her name is Ana Rute. Keep her and all of our volunteers in your prayers.

Time and friends

Pam and I have been travelling in the U.S. for the past three weeks. One thing we have noticed is the way the new is crowding the past across the country. America is a nation that is in love with building new things. The number of new homes under construction is amazing. The size of the homes makes some of them look like hotels.

One really nice moment in our trip was a stop at Riverdale Baptist Church with pastor Brian Mentzer and his wife, Jayne.
The Mentzers are wonderful hosts who live in a wonderful home on the church campus. The home is a restored home originally built in 1830. To be in the dynamic Washington D.C. area with such great friends in such a great home was the best of old and new. We were blessed!

Some things improve with time. Among them are great homes and great friendships. Brian and Jayne are great friends and their home was the perfect setting for a friendship that will last forever.

family

There is nothing more gratifying than to see your children walking in the truth. No other life achievement even comes close.
To be with your children and their children and hear them talking of their joy in Jesus is life's most amazing joy.

Certainly our heavenly Father feels this same joy when all of His children gather to celebrate their life in Jesus. When we worship together I know He must feel what I felt yesterday as our family gatthered together in Orlando, Florida. As the proud mom and dad, Pam and I were beyond happy. We experienced joy.

I believe heaven will be filled with such joy. Those who have never had the joy of family on earth can have it now in an abiding church. Certainly we will all have such joy in heaven.

Connections

I never cease to be amazed at how Jesus in us connects people instantly and over many, many years. The presence of Jesus is so powerful in one's life that the process of finding and keeping friends becomes a natural part of the abiding Christians life.
In this picture God's promise to make us one in Jesus has come true in my life once again.

I cannot even begin to understand how much poorer my life would be if the presence of Jesus had not been given to me at the moment of my new birth.
Friends found and kept in Jesus make us truly rich.

Abiding creates and sustains friendships. The ever widening circle of friends in Jesus is available to all who abide.


The picture is of two new friends who who joined John Harmeling and I for lunch to share the message of the joy of abiding. On the left is Mike Sallah an award winning journalist with the Miami Herald and and on the right is Dan Sessa pastor of the Church in the Glades in Pembroke Pines Florida.

The circle of abiding friends continues to grow.

February Update

The weak and the strong

Yesterday while in traffic here in our city, I witnessed a robbery. A man approached a young girl on a bike and stole the purse that she had hanging over her shoulder. I saw it happening but could do nothing.

I felt such a sense of anger and frustration watching a grown man take advantage of a young girl. Yet, such acts of the "strong" abusing the "weak" are daily realities in this world. On mean city streets, in corporate boardrooms and in families power is abused and people suffer. I, too, have misused power with words and deeds. Strength has potential for good and evil.

I wondered all through the day if I should have stopped and tried to offer assistance. Where I was at the time I could not stop without causing an accident. I spent the rest of the day praying for the young girl.

In reality, which of the two was the stronger in this scene of injustice? A man who would stoop to steal from a young girl or a young girl who will go on with her life in the face of such injustice?

Perhaps God allows this world to run along as it is to reveal that the truly strong only appear to be the weak and powerless.
That was certainly the case when Jesus suffered at the hands of the "strong" of this world.

Perhaps I should also pity the man who has been reduced to such a state of cruelty. He offended a child God loves and such an offense will not go unnoticed or unpunished. All abuse of power will be reversed in time.

I pray today for that young girl that she will get back on her bike and face the world without fear. I pray she will be drawn to trust in God through this pain. I pray that people of love will carry her through this time.

I pray the man who stole the purse will soon come face to face with what he has become and cry out to His Creator to remake him through daily contact with Jesus.

I pray for myself that whatever power I have in this world will be used to bless and not take.

simple

The longer I am a follower of Christ the more simple the Christian life is becoming. I believe that is a sign of the healing of my soul more than it is a sign of great learning. Things that are living as they were meant to always seem simple.

Following Jesus has been made complex by looking at it from the view of what we lack instead of what we have. What has helped my faith grow more and more simple is the growing conviction that the presence of Jesus--the true Vine---connected to my life is all I need.

I remember vividly when I accepted Jesus as my Saviour when I was sixteen. The message of the church where I trusted Christ was simple and unrelenting. JESUS IS ENOUGH! JESUS WILL SAVE! JESUS WILL KEEP YOU! The conviction of these things was so profound it was simple.

Unfortunately, soon after the simplicity of salavation came to me, things got complicated. I soon felt I needed about 10,000 things I did not have to make the Christian life work. Soon people where lining up with plans and products to help get these things I lacked. From cassettes (in those days) to books and courses, I was on my way.

Many of these things did help but there was one flaw in the whole process. It was filled with doubt and uncertainty. There was so much lacking! It made me feel the same way I felt before I knew Jesus was enough to save me. It seemed that only the super saints would make it in this discipleship thing. I worked hard to make it to super sainthood.

I thank God for all the effort that was expended for me by so many. I just wish that someone had told me with conviction that for discipleship and daily life JESUS IS ENOUGH! JESUS WILL BE THERE 24X7! JESUS IS THE VINE WHO WILL GIVE YOU ALL YOU NEED! HIS LIFE IN YOU IS PERFECT, TOO!

I am deeply concerned that we have built an entire Christian industry on what is lacking instead of building on what we have in Jesus. This may sound harsh, but I believe we are in need of a churchwide reformation in the area of discipleship. Just as salvation was once complicated by the church, so, too, discipleship has been complicated by the church. Those who live from this complexity and the insecurity of sincere believers need to reevaluate the starting point of their ministries.
That which does not start in the abundance of the Vine has started in the wrong place.

This may sound like we will not need bookstores, courses, etc. That is not true. Working from abundance will always be creative and fruitful. All that will go is the uncertainty and dependence on men and things instead of dependence on Jesus.


By the way, there are no super saints. It took me a long time to truly believe that. There are branches connected to a Vine. Some receive and release better than others. Even so, they know it is God's doing not theirs. How simple! It feels almost as good as getting saved.

Dreams

God brought Pam and me back to Brazil because He gave us a new dream. That dream was to spend the rest of our lives helping people understand the importance of living what Jesus called Abiding. It has been a powerful enough dream to move us 5000 miles from family and to cause us to change our way of living in dramatic ways.

I believe in the power of God given dreams to motivate and inspire. I think God wants us to be active with Him in His pursuit of men and women for Himself in this world. This week I believe Pam and I came a step or two closer to the dream becoming more of a reality.

First, I believe we have found a location in a mountain city where we can begin retreats with leaders and with Brazilian young adults who will soon be the leaders. The camp can house 180 and it has homes that can be rented for couples. It also has a piece of land that might be available for sale or longterm leasing. (The first view is from a vacant piece of land above the camp where a building for Abide Brazil could be built--a dream!)
The camp sits in the middle of a mix of upper middle class homes and deep poverty. It would be a perfect place for groups to come from Brazil or the States to see the reality in which people can abide. Our idea would be to have people do a one week course on Abiding. Mornings and evenings would be for teaching and the afternoons would be spent blessing the people of the city. The city has about 45,000 permanent inhabitants who are mostly very poor.

Second, I am nearing completion of a book on the Abiding life. I feel that God is giving me this book to use as he basis for a course I can teach to those who are interested in learning what Jesus meant when He said "Abide in Me" and "Without Me you can do nothing." I hope to have the book published in Portuguese and English at the same time--a dream!

The attached pictures are if the two dreams taking shape. For those of you who pray for us and support us. Dream with us!

A Taste for doubt

One of the things I most enjoy about Brazil is the abundance of fresh fruit. Brazil is blessed with an incredible, rich soil where fruit of all types grows quickly and easily.

As I had breakfast this morning I had this thought as I tasted the fruit and heard the birds singing outside.

"How can anyone who has ever tasted fruit while hearing the birds sing doubt that we live in a Universe that is for us not against us?"

Try this sometime to strengthen your faith. Get some fresh fruit, turn off the airconditioner until you can sense the world around you. Eat the fruit until its taste gets a good grip on you. Now, try to convince yourself the Universe is a rotten place to live. If you can hear birds singing at the same time, you will feel what I felt this morning-- A complete absence of doubt about God's good intentions toward me and the world. It felt great!

January update